reptiles. amphibians. plants.

More Fire Salamanders

A couple months ago, I added more Fire Salamanders, bringing my total to four. These fatties have settled in well and are pigging out on crickets and earth worms.

They’re housed in a pretty simple set up for now. I have them in a rubbermaid tub with peat moss and sphagnum moss for substrate, and a variety of pothos and philodendron cuttings for foliage. They have created burrows in the substrate, but they’re also out and about frequently and seem to be pretty comfortable just using the leaves for cover.

The cuttings are rooting and at least the philodendrons will be moved with them into a nicer tank at some point. Pothos is great for simple set ups like this, but I don’t really like it in “show tanks”. It may be necessary if they dig too much for more delicate plants, but I’ll try out some other things first. Philodendrons should do fine. Hopefully they’ll allow some mosses and ferns to thrive as well.

The sphagnum really stuck to them a lot in the beginning, but as the new cage settled, that stopped happening quite as much as well. They don’t really seem to care either way though, as long as it’s not in their face.

Below the sphagnum moss is a layer of peat moss. They have dug some tunnels through it and sometimes I find them hiding in their burrows. By “find” I mean I’ll see them pop out and nab a cricket on occasion. Overall, they’ve been pretty bold. Usually they’re out under the leaves instead of underground.

I also picked up a third Matecho. This one has a hint of blue on its legs and belly. Should be interesting to see how it looks as it grows.He’s a bit smaller than the other two, but doing well with them. All my Matecho has a black spot on their backs. I’ll probably “have to” get another one or two with solid yellow backs. That’s a good excuse to get more frogs, right? Maybe some more Fire Salamanders as well…